Well, round one of project talk didn't go so well for Bayley and Sasha. Let's see if round two of project talk will fare any better for the odd pair. I hope you enjoy, my loves. =)
The next day, Sasha sat in Ms. Varon's classroom in wait for when Bayley would show up. All of yesterday afternoon, the pink-haired teen had been thinking over possible ideas for what she and Bayley could do for their project, but nothing seemed to stick out to her. 'Maybe Bayley was able to think of something that I couldn't yesterday. She does have the better grades in here out of the two of us, so maybe she has an idea or two,' Sasha thought, resting her head in one of her hands.
And just as Sasha had this thought did she see Bayley come into the room with her friends and take her seat. 'OK. Now all we have to do is wait for Ms. Varon to let us pair up so that we can talk this over,' Sasha thought as she watched Bayley talk with her friends. For some reason, an odd feeling seemed to rise up inside of Sasha as she watched the ponytailed brunette talk with her friends. 'I can only imagine what Bayley's talking about with Emma and Zack. Probably something geeky, knowing them,' Sasha thought, as she sat in wait for when Ms. Varon would come to class.
Bayley, on the other hand, was a complete bundle of nerves as far as when it would be time for everyone to get back with their project partners.
"Bayley, do Zack and I have to get Sami up here to calm you down?" Emma questioned.
"No, Em, you guys don't. I'm trying to calm down, really I am. I just don't know if Sasha'll like what I have to say about our possible project idea," Bayley said, twirling her thumbs around.
"She probably will, Bay. I mean, knowing Sasha, she probably doesn't have an idea of her own. So, she'll have no choice but to hear yours out," Zack said.
"Yeah, I ...I guess you're right, Zack," Bayley nodded. "At least, ...I hope you're right."
Talk among the students in class went on for a few minutes more until the bell rang and Ms. Varon joined the class.
"OK. Since yesterday marked the first day of your end-of-semester projects, I'm going to let you all get back together with your partners again today to talk over ideas for your projects. So, same as yesterday, go sit back with your partner and spend the next 30 minutes brainstorming ideas," Ms. Varon said before taking a seat at her desk.
With these words, Sasha watched as students got up and moved around to sit near their partners. Seeing Bayley rise up from her seat so that another student could borrow her desk, Sasha watched as the ponytailed brunette came to join her. 'OK. Let's see just what kind of ideas Bayley was able to come up with.'
Taking a seat in Sami's desk, Bayley greeted Sasha with a wave of her hand and a "Good morning, Sasha".
Returning Bayley's greeting with one of her own, Sasha decided to cut right to the chase. "So, were you able to come up with anything yesterday?"
"Kind of, I was," Bayley began. Seeing the look on Sasha's face, Bayley decided to go on with what she was talking about. "Well, I was talking with Sami about the project yesterday, and I was thinking ...maybe we could do ours on something that we're both interested in."
"'Something we're both interested in', huh? That ...actually sounds like it could probably work," Sasha said, liking the sound of the idea Bayley had as it reminded her a bit of what she and her mom talked about the day before. "Do you want to start that off or should I?"
"I'll start things off. Let's see... We should at least share three things between ourselves. Just to get things started," Bayley said.
Beginning to like the sound of this idea, Sasha simply gave Bayley a "Go ahead" gesture to get things started.
"OK. Well, three things that I like are anime-Pokémon being one of my favorites-video games, and cooking and baking," Bayley said, a slight blush crossing her cheeks. "Now, it's your turn, Sasha. What are three things you like?"
"Hmm... Well, three things I can say I like are hanging out with my friends, movies, and cooking, too," Sasha said, silently wishing she could've just been open and shared that she liked the same things Bayley did.
"Huh. Well, I guess we can work off of us both being into cooking. Who knows? Maybe we can make something and bring it in to class," Bayley suggested. "We could probably get a high grade from it, too."
"Yeah, maybe we could," Sasha said, laughing a bit at Bayley's suggestion. "That actually sounds like it could work as our project."
"OK. Well, ...great!" Bayley chirped, letting out a slight sigh of relief. "So, ...I guess now we just decide on what we'll make and how we'll discuss it with the class."
"We've got plenty of time to think this through. No need to really rush with this right now," Sasha pointed out.
"Oh, yeah. Right, right," Bayley nodded in agreement.
And no sooner that Bayley said this did a silence settle over the two while the rest of the class talked around them until Ms. Varon called for everyone to return to their seats.
Watching Bayley walk back to her seat, it suddenly hit Sasha that maybe there was something she forgot to bring up during their little talk. 'It's probably not anything all that important. No big deal,' Sasha shrugged as she turned her attention to Ms. Varon's lecture on parts of a sentence and sentence structures.
Meanwhile back with Bayley, as she listened to Ms. Varon's lecture and took notes on what was being discussed, it suddenly hit the ponytailed brunette. 'Oh, man. I didn't give Sasha my cell phone number! Man oh man oh man! ...OK, no worries! No need to get worked up. I'll just make sure to stop Sasha before the day's over and ask her for it then. Right. OK. That plan is a go!' Bayley thought with a slight nod as she returned her attention back to the lecture.
...This, however, proved to be quite the tricky task as every time Bayley would try to stop Sasha in the halls, she was met with either Sasha being surrounded by her friends, crowding in the hallways, and just her own nerves flaring up; not even another round of Matt's "Delete your worries!" pep talk at lunch seemed to help her feel any less nervous.
'The deleting stuff is easy for Matt to say. He's not the one that's gotta try and talk on a level field with someone that he was really close friends with a few years ago,' Bayley thought as she rested her head on the table she was sitting at in her fourth period Visual Arts class.
Looking over from where she was sitting, a girl with quite the mane of fiery red hair asked "What's got you so down, Bayley?"
"Don't wanna talk about it," Bayley said, her head still on the tabletop.
Looking over to where Alex was, the redhead asked "Care to fill a lost lass in on the haps with Bayley?"
"Bayley got partnered up with Sasha Banks for a project they have to do in their English class that isn't due until the end of the semester. Today, she's been trying to get to Sasha to ask her for her cell phone number after she forgot to ask for it in their class earlier," Alex explained as she moved a ruler around on the paper she had. "And as you can see, that has not gone well."
"Ach, Sasha," the redhead shook her head with an eyeroll as she continued to work on her drawing. "I can see why Bayley hasn't gotten her digits yet. Muppet's so far in her bubble, makes it hard for anyone to talk to her."
"Please don't talk about her like that, Becky," Bayley insisted, raising her head and looking at the redhead.
"Sorry, Bayley. Just calling it like I see it," Becky shrugged.
Wanting to say something, Bayley tried but failed to come up with a counter. She knew that Becky was right...she just didn't want to think that that would always be the case when it came to Sasha. After all, considering the fact that the teens have something in the way of a shared past, it only makes sense that the ponytailed brunette would want to do what she can to look on the bright side. 'Sasha really isn't that bad. Becky knows that just like I do. I just wish I could show her and everyone else that,' Bayley thought, her mind feeling too preoccupied to really work on her art project.
After what seemed like a long time, the final bell of the day rang, letting the students of Green Hills High head home for the day. After helping put away the art supplies she, Alex, and Becky used in class, Bayley grabbed her backpack and headed out of the school building with Alex and Becky, the other two teens talking back and forth about their own homework they had to deal with while Bayley's thoughts were on her failed mission. 'I can't believe I chickened out and didn't ask Sasha for her number. I guess there's always tomorrow, but I just wanted to get it so that we could do some more brainstorming outside of class. ...Oh, well. Again, there's always tomorrow,' Bayley thought as she, Alex, and Becky finally made their way outside.
Catching a glimpse of a familiar head of pink hair, Alex nudged Bayley in the side. Getting the attention of her ponytailed friend, Alex pointed ahead of the trio. "I believe you have something to take care of, Bayley."
Feeling confused at first, Bayley looked in the direction Alex was pointing to see Sasha walking along alone. "Umm, ...maybe I should wait until tomorrow. I wouldn't want to bug Sasha on her walk home."
"No, Bayley. You can't keep putting doing this off," Alex rested a hand on Bayley's shoulder. "It's just a simple thing. Walk up to her, ask her for her number, and that's it. Worst thing that could happen is that she say No."
"Which, knowing her, seems like the likely result," Becky cheekily added.
Sending a slight glare in the redhead's direction, Alex said "Don't pay what Becks said any mind. Just go ask her, Bayley. I'll even walk with you, if you want me to."
"Thanks, Alex," Bayley smiled after hearing this. "You want to come with, Becks?"
"No way. Count me out. I should probably be heading home anyway. Got a lot of homework I need to deal with. Good luck on the number getting, you two," Becky waved the two brunettes goodbye before heading down the main steps and out of the schoolyard.
Watching Becky's retreating form, Bayley then returned to the mission at hand, which was getting Sasha's number. Making her way down the steps with Alex following beside her, Bayley kept mentally telling herself to stay calm. 'It's just a simple thing. Ask Sasha for her number, and then I head home. It's just that simple!' Feeling a bit more sure of herself, Bayley continued her walk ahead she was close enough to Sasha. Reaching out, the ponytailed brunette tapped the pink-haired teen on the shoulder.
Feeling light tapping on her shoulder, Sasha couldn't help but jump in place a bit. Turning around to see who it was, she saw that it was Bayley and one of the brunette's friends with her. Pulling her earbuds out of her ears, Sasha said "Bayley, hi. Wasn't expecting to run into you right now."
"Yeah. What a crazy coincidence, right?" Bayley asked, letting out a bit of a nervous laugh. Hearing Alex clearing her throat behind her, Bayley decided to jump to asking Sasha the question that was on her mind. "Actually, Sasha, there's something I wanted to ask you?"
"Sure, Bayley. What's that?" Sasha asked.
"I, uh, I was wondering if you'd maybe want to exchange cell phone numbers. Just so that we can talk with each other about our English project outside of school," Bayley said, her heart starting to beat a bit quickly.
"Um... Sure, I don't see any problem with that," Sasha shrugged. Pulling her phone out of her shorts pocket with Bayley doing the same with hers, Sasha told Bayley her phone number first with Bayley doing the same for Sasha after having entered Sasha's number into her phone. Entering Bayley's number into her phone and saving it under her name, Sasha said "OK. Looks like that's done."
"So it is," Bayley nodded. "So, I ...guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Sure. I'll see you then," Sasha nodded herself. Giving just a wave of her hand as a goodbye to the two brunettes, Sasha put her earbuds back in her ears and went back to her walk home.
With Sasha having walked away, Alex stepped forward with a smile on her face. "Congrats, Bay. You managed to get Sasha's number!"
"I know. I still can't believe that actually happened," Bayley let out a huge sigh of relief as she and Alex walked away from the school.
"So, after all of that, what now?" Alex asked.
"Now? I guess now, ...I just make sure to text or call Sasha about stuff for our project," Bayley said with a slight shrug.
"I'm sure you two will be able to get that stuff all sorted out and dealt with," Alex said. "At least with you two having shared numbers, it'll give you two more time to talk it over."
"Yeah. You're pretty right about that," Bayley nodded with a smile. Talking with Alex for a few minutes more until they reached her house where the teens said their goodbyes for the day, Bayley headed up the walkway to the front door of her home where she couldn't help but look down at Sasha's number in her contacts. 'It's just for us to work on our English project. That's all me having Sasha's number means. Now to go tackle this English and Pre-Algebra so that I can have more time to think over the project' Bayley thought as she put her phone in her pocket and headed inside her home.
...
Looking down at the new number in her phone, Sasha still couldn't believe that she traded numbers with Bayley. 'It's just for our English project. That's all it's for,' Sasha thought before another thought came to her. '...Although, I don't see anything wrong with maybe sending Bayley texts about ...other stuff here and there.' Another thought coming to her just then, Sasha pulled up her text messager and, after putting in Bayley's name, typed a quick message and sent it off to the ponytailed brunette before returning her attention to the homework she had for her Earth Sciences class.
Well, it looks like Bayley and Sasha's second round of project talk went pretty okay. They at least started to talk about ideas, so I'd say that counts as progress. Although, the real progress came after school was over when Bayley finally managed to get back with Sasha and exchange cell phone numbers with her so that there could be some project chat outside of school. Although, with having Bayley's number, Sasha gets the idea that maybe all of their talking doesn't have to be project-centric. What could that possibly mean? Well, you'll have to wait until next chapter to at least get an idea as to what Sasha means. Until then, don't forget to R&R please. =)
(I forgot to mention that we had a new character join the story in the form of Becky Lynch, who does not seem like all that much of a Sasha fan. I wonder why this is.)
